Openly Lesbian Soldier Killed in Afghanistan
For the first time, we have information that an openly gay soldier has died in Afghanistan. Massachusetts National Guard Spc. Ciara Durkin, 30, was found with a single gunshot wound to her head behind a building at Bagram Airbase on Sept. 27, the Boston Herald reports this morning.
Durkin (pictured) was "mysteriously slain by a bullet to the head on a secure Afghanistan airbase," the paper reports, and had earlier "feared something might happen to her after discovering 'something she didn’t like,' her devastated family revealed."
"The last time she was home she said she had seen things that she didn’t like and she had raised concerns that had annoyed some people," said Durkin’s sister Fiona Canavan. "She said, and I thought she was joking, that if anything happened to her we had to investigate."
Canavan said she did not believe her sister was murdered because of her sexual orientation, though she was openly lesbian.
Durkin was deployed to Afghanistan in February and was due to return home in January. Her funeral is Saturday at St. John’s Parish Church on School Street, Quincy.
SLDN extends our heartfelt condolences to Ciara's family. Her story is a clear reminder that, in the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, LGBT Americans are making tremendous sacrifices for our nation, including the ultimate sacrifice.
- Steve RallsLabels: afghanistan, in the news
-----10-03-07
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